George Will calls for pull-out  —  George F. Will, the elite conservative commentator, will call in his next column for U.S. ground troops to leave Afghanistan, according to publishing sources.  —  “[F]orces should be substantially reduced to serve a comprehensively revised policy …

Chuck Grassley Fundraises Against Health-Care Reform  —  Chuck Grassley is facing a potentially difficult primary challenge in 2010.  As such, he's been working hard to cover his right flank.  That would all be fine except for one thing: As ranking member of the Finance Committee …

Governor sets date for special Senate election, presses for interim appointment  —  Governor Deval Patrick continued today to press for a change to state law to allow him to appoint an interim replacement for Senator Edward M. Kennedy as he announced that a special election for the seat will be held on Jan. 19.

Sarah Palin plans first trip to Asia  —  Former Alaska governor set for initial commercial speaking engagement  —  HONG KONG - Former U.S. vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, once questioned about her lack of foreign policy experience, will make her first trip to Asia in September.

Experts see double-digit Dem losses  —  After an August recess marked by raucoustown halls, troubling polling data and widespread anecdotal evidence of a volatile electorate, the small universe of political analysts who closely follow House races is predicting moderate to heavy Democratic losses in 2010.

As Banks Repay Bailout Money, U.S. Sees a Profit  —  Nearly a year after the federal rescue of the nation's biggest banks, taxpayers have begun seeing profits from the hundreds of billions of dollars in aid that many critics thought might never be seen again.

EXCLUSIVE: Carrie Prejean Takes Legal Action Against Miss California USA Officials  —  RANCHO SANTA FE, CA - Carrie Prejean's attorney, Charles S. LiMandri announced today that the former Miss California USA is filing a complaint in the Superior Court of California against Miss California USA …

Why I Am Anti-Republican  —  I got an e-mail from a prominent Republican asking why I am so anti-Republican these days.  Since many of my friends ask the same thing I thought I would share my reply:  —  I think the party got seriously on the wrong track during the George W. Bush years, as I explained in my Impostor book.

The Courtship  —  The story behind the Obama-Brooks bromance.  —  In the spring of 2005, New York Times columnist David Brooks arrived at then-Senator Barack Obama's office for a chat.  Brooks, a conservative writer who joined the Times in 2003 from The Weekly Standard, had never met Obama before.

Kennedy Catholicism  —  “I have always tried to be a faithful Catholic, Your Holiness,” Ted Kennedy wrote to Pope Benedict XVI, in a letter dramatically read by Theodore Cardinal McCarrick at the senator's burial, “and though I have fallen short through human failings, I have never failed …

Save the Light Bulb!  —  Compact fluorescents don't produce good quality light.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 will effectively phase out incandescent light bulbs by 2012-2014 in favor of compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs.

Blue Chip, White Cotton: What Underwear Says About the Economy  —  For one answer to the nation's most pressing economic question — when will the recession end? — just take a peek inside the American man's underwear drawer.  —  There may be some new pairs there, judging by recent reports …

Key Republican: GOP would repeal health bill if they win in 2010  —  Republicans will repeal healthcare reform legislation if they win control of Congress because of that bill, a key Republican pledged late Sunday.  —  The health bill is “dead on arrival” in Congress, said Rep. Joe Barton …

Missing Richard Nixon  —  Many of the retrospectives on Ted Kennedy's life mention his regret that he didn't accept Richard Nixon's offer of a bipartisan health care deal.  The moral some commentators take from that regret is that today's health care reformers should do what Mr. Kennedy balked …

Ridge backpedals on pressure to raise terror alert level  —  WASHINGTON — Former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge, speaking for the first time about accusations made in his new book, says he did not mean to suggest that other top Bush administration officials were playing politics …

A ‘Little Judge’ Who Rejects Foreclosures, Brooklyn Style  —  The judge waves you into his chambers in the State Supreme Court building in Brooklyn, past the caveat taped to his wall — “Be sure brain in gear before engaging mouth” — and into his inner office, where foreclosure motions …

An Ivy League Huey Long  —  Washington is seriously unserious.  —  From the magazine issue dated Sep 7, 2009  —  In August our ubiquitous president became the nation's elevator music, always out and about, heard but not really listened to, like audible wallpaper.

Hamas resists Holocaust lessons  —  Gaza's ruling Islamist movement Hamas has resisted suggestions that Palestinian children should be taught about the Holocaust in UN-run schools.  —  The head of its education committee in Gaza, Abdul Rahman el-Jamal, told the BBC that the Holocaust was a “big lie”.

Fewer Newspapers Fight to Open Court Proceedings  —  You don't see newspapers fighting to open court proceedings the way they used to, and people are starting to notice.  —  “The days of powerful newspapers with ample legal budgets appear to be numbered,” wrote a public defender in Georgia …

Burner Helping House Liberals Hold Firm on Public Insurance Option  —  An organizer for liberal House Democrats says the bloc “isn't bluffing” as it prepares to take a reputation-defining stand to protect a public insurance option in the health care overhaul.

The Health Care Map Ahead  —  With the summer winding down, it's time to take stock of where the legislative track is likely to pick up in what is likely to be the breakneck pace of September.  —  First, with two of the three Republican members of the so-called Gang of Six openly embracing …

Dems/unions push new wave of investment taxes  —  American equity investors have suffered a lost decade of portfolio performance — the S&P 500 is about where it was back in 1998 — and trillions of dollars of lost net worth, so it may seem a terrible time to hit them with a $100 billion-a-year investment tax.